of comrades, expansive and affectionate. Sometimes he would
play "_onigokko_," or devil-catching play (hide-and-seek), with them in
the garden. "Though no adept in the Japanese language, he succeeded in
learning the words of several children's songs, the Tokyo Sunset Song,
for instance--

"Yu-yake!
Ko-yake!
Ashita wa tenki ni nare."

"Evening-burning!
Little-burning!
Weather, be fair to-morrow!"

or the Song of "Urashima Taro."

He was much given to drawing, making pen-and-ink sketches illustrating
quotations from English poetry for his eldest boy, Kazuo. Some of these
which have recently been published are quite suggestively charming,
distinguished by that quaint sadness which runs through all his work. In
one, illustrative of Kingsley's "Three Fishers," though the lighthouse
has a slight slant to leeward, the sea and clouds give an effect of
storm and impending disaster which is wonderful.

He was too near-sighted to be allowed to walk alone in the bustling,
crowded streets of Tokyo; he one day, indeed, sprained his ankle
severely, stumbling over a heap of stones and earth that he did not see.
But in Kazuo's and his wife's company, he explored every corner of the
district where he lived. He very seldom spoke, she tells us, as he
walked with bent head, and they followed silently so as not to disturb
his meditations. There was not a temple unknown to him in Zoshigaya,
Ochiai, and the neighbouring quarters. He always carried a little
note-book, and frequently brought it out to make notes of what he saw as
they passed along.

An ancient garden belonging to a temple near his house was a favourite
resort, until one day he found three of the cedar trees cut down; this
piece of vandalism, for the sake of selling the timber, made him so
miserable that he refused any longer to enter the precincts, and for
some time contented himself with a stroll round the lake in the
university grounds. One of his students describes Hearn's slightly
stooping form, surmounted by a soft broad-brimmed hat, pacing slowly and
contemplatively along the lake, or sitting upon a stone on the shore,
smoking his Japanese pipe.

Though Hearn hated the ceremonious functions connected with his
professional position, he was by no means averse, during the first half
of his stay at